The use of valves to control the flow of a fluid within an overall heat exchange circuit within an automobile system is known. Control valves or thermal by-pass valves (TBV) are often used in combination with heat exchangers to either direct a fluid to a corresponding heat exchanger for heating or cooling, or to direct the fluid elsewhere in the heat exchange circuit so as to by-pass the heat exchanger under conditions where the heat transfer function of the heat exchanger is not required or is only intermittently required.
Control valves or thermal by-pass valves are often incorporated into a heat exchange system by way of external fluid lines that are, in turn, connected to an inlet/outlet of a heat exchanger, the control valves being separate to the heat exchanger and being connected either upstream or downstream from the heat exchanger within the external fluid lines. In some applications, multiple control valves or thermal by-pass valves are used in combination in order to achieve a particular control sequence to effectively dictate the fluid flow through the overall heat exchange circuit to ensure that the fluid is directed to the appropriate heat exchanger or automobile system component under the various operating conditions. In other applications, it may be more appropriate to provide a single valve apparatus capable of multiple control functions. However, providing a single valve apparatus that offers multiple control functions sometimes results in the mixing of various fluid streams which is not always desirable for the overall functioning and/or control of the overall heat exchanger circuit.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a valve apparatus that can provide multiple control functions while preventing mixing of the various fluid streams that are being controlled through the valve in an effort to provide overall fluid circuits or systems that can operate and/or achieve the desired function without the mixing of fluid streams.